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Should HIV patients who have metabolic complications while taking lopinavir/ritonavir switch to ritonavir-boosted atazanavir? To address this question, researchers randomized 15 nondiabetic patients who had been using lopinavir/r for at least 6 months to continue that treatment or to switch to boosted atazanavir. The study was funded by the manufacturer of atazanavir.
All participants had at least one of these baseline indicators of a metabolic complication: fasting insulin level ≥15 µU/mL, total cholesterol level ≥200 mg/dL, triglyceride level ≥150 mg/dL, or current treatment with a lipid-lowering drug. NRTI backbone regimens, which were similar between the groups, were not altered. One patient in each group was taking AZT. The study was de…